I spent the early part of January this year in Sweden. This is not something I would generally recommend doing. The cold isn’t the main thing, although it is certainly cold. The problem is the dark. Sweden is a beautiful country, but you wouldn’t know it for half the year.
I lived in Stockholm in 2017 and 2018, with my then boyfriend. I moved there with him and for him – he had got on a master’s programme in the city and I was trying to be a writer while doing odd jobs, both things I could do in Sweden. I had never lived abroad and wanted to. At first, it was difficult. I had no friends, I missed home, and without colleagues or fellow students to mingle with, I was lonely.
